March 19, 2024

Cardinals dominate finale to go 6-3

Image 1 of 3

Executing and finishing were more than words for Newton High’s Cardinals Friday night.

In the final game of the 2016 season, it was Senior Night, and it was Trenton Brady Night for the Cardinal football team. No playoff berth was on the line but a lot of pride in executing and finishing Newton’s first season in Class 4A competition since 2008 the right way — the Cardinal way.

With 15 seniors leading the way, the Cardinals dominated the visiting Indianola Indians in a 45-28 victory. The numbers tell the story: time of possession — Newton 34 minutes, 13 seconds, Indianola 13:47; rushing yards — 417 on a school-record 75 carries for Newton, 108 yards on 19 carries for the Indians; first downs — 22 Newton, 7 Indianola.

The only number Indianola had on its side of the ledger was 238 yards in the passing game. The Indians had four big plays — three long pass touchdown plays and one long run to set up a TD.

Before the game, senior football players and other seniors were recognized with their parents. The team, school and community honored Brady, who would have been a senior lineman on the team but was killed in an automobile accident in June.

Newton never trailed in the game. It was tied once, 7-7, but the Cardinals owned a 28-14 halftime lead.

“At halftime, the coaches’ one word for us was finish — finish the second half, finish drives, finish the game and finish the season,” senior defensive lineman Reagan Maple said. “We did that tonight. As seniors, it was our last game and for our underclassmen, winning gave them a good bounce into the offseason.”

Newton came out with a statement drive to open the third quarter. It used a time-consuming drive — 9 minutes of the 12-minute period — with 19 plays, all but one was a running play. Zach Combs finished the march with a 22-yard field goal to put Newton up 31-14.

“I thought we could run against their defensive scheme. We’ve won games this season when we’ve run right at people. Our guys dominated inside on the line, especially on that drive,” Newton head coach Ed Ergenbright said. “I’m proud of all of our guys tonight. They executed everything we wanted them to do so well.”

To open the game, the Cardinals executed a squib kickoff. Combs’ kick bounced off an Indianola player and another Indian player fumbled the football on the opening play of the game. Combs, Newton’s placekicker, recovered the football to set the Cardinals up at the Indianola 47-yard line.

Six running plays later, Newton quarterback Garrett Sturtz pushed over the goal line from 1 yard out and Combs kicked the extra point. Newton used senior running backs Jordan Norvell and Reese Rosenquist and sophomore running back Josh Miller to move the ball to the 1-yard line for Sturtz to score.

Senior offensive lineman Caden Manning pointed to the sky after the score, and every score afterward for the Cardinals.

“I would always touch the little logo TB (Trenton Brady) on the back of my helmet this season because every single touchdown we score is for him. Tonight, I just wanted him to know so I pointed to the sky,” Manning said.

Indianola had quick-strike capabilities on offense. It took the Indians one play to tie the game with 9:14 left in the first quarter. A halfback pass from Kade Kolarik to Cale Smith went for 83-yard TD pass for the Indians.

Newton responded by going 70 yards in eight plays to take the lead for good on a 2-yard TD run by Norvell. Norvell rushed for 112 yards on 18 carries.

“We did this for Trenton Brady. He was with us all season,” Norvell said after the game.

With 2:55 left in the first quarter, Newton’s defense made a stand at its 42-yard line.

“We just did it. We dug in and didn’t give an inch on the play,” Newton defensive lineman Caleb Kite said. “This win and going 6-3 means a lot to us.”

The Cardinals prevented Indianola quarterback Joe Jensen from picking up a fourth-and-1 play. Newton’s offense stayed the course, moving to the Indianola 14 by the end of the first quarter.

Miller, who had 37 yards on 11 carries, rushed for eight yards on the first play of the second quarter. Rosenquist, who finished with 170 yards on 30 carries, had a 7-yard carry to put the ball at the 1-yard line.

Miller bulled over the goal line at the 11:17 mark and Combs added the extra-point kick for a 21-7 lead. The Indians were forced to punt on their next possession, which went only 16 yards.

It took one play — a 50-yard TD dash by Sturtz to put Newton up 28-7.

“I was proud of our defense tonight. Yes, Indianola had some big plays, but the guys played very well defensively,” Ergenbright said. “We ran the ball a school-record 75 times, but we had some key pass plays and Garrett scrambled for key plays. He really played great tonight in leading our offense.”

Newton’s old mark for carries in a single game was 69 against Marshalltown in 1991.

The Indians put together an 80-yard scoring drive on seven plays featuring a two long runs by Kolarik. Kolarik capped the march with a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 28-14 by halftime.

“When we came out in the third quarter, my mindset was this was my last game and I was going to fight my best for these guys,” senior offensive lineman Lucas Montgomery said. “This season has been very emotional after losing Trenton before the season. We stepped up and became one — played together, cried together and worked together. We didn’t go 9-0 as everyone would love to do but 6-3 — it was an amazing season for us.”

After Newton took a 31-14 lead, the Indians struck again quickly on a 73-yard pass play from Jensen to Chris Ewoldsen. It was 31-21 with 2:12 left in the third quarter.

Newton responded with its power running game, chewing up yards and time off the clock. Rosenquist finished a 14-play, 78-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone at the 7:57 mark of the fourth quarter. The drive had two fourth-down play conversions and a third-and-7 pass from Sturtz to Trevor Ergenbright for 45 yards.

Sturtz threw only five passes, completing four in the game for 72 yards. All four catches were made by Ergenbright.

Jensen connected with Kolarik for a 41-yard touchdown pass play a minute later to make it a 10-point game again, 38-28.

Newton drove to the Indians’ 8-yard line but a fourth-down pass play was incomplete giving the ball to Indianola with 2:09 remaining in the game. Jensen completed a short pass to Cole Scott, but senior defensive back Keith Steinbach forced a fumble. Rosenquist recovered the ball for Newton.

Rosenquist got the call on the first play at the 6-yard line. He made a dive into the end zone at the end of the run for the final score of the night.

Indianola reached its 49-yard line on its next possession, but Newton’s Jaron Roush sealed the victory with an interception with 46 seconds left.

“As a group, people had minimal expectations for us this season. We stepped up and made plays when we needed to tonight,” Steinbach said. “This was an amazing season to go 6-3.”

Senior linebacker Brady Smith missed most of the Southeast Polk game and all of the Valley game because of an injury. He was in there for the final game.

“We had that fire back tonight. We had the energy level throughout the game,” Smith said.

Rosenquist led the Newton defense with one solo tackle and seven assisted tackles. Blayden Rhone had two solo stops and two assisted tackles. Kite, Miller and Joe Busch each were credited with five assisted tackles. Miller and Smith combined for a quarterback sack.

“We moved up to 4A and everyone doubted us. Tonight we finished things. Our backs ran hard and our offensive line was blocking like we’ve never done before. It was great,” Miller said. “It’s tough to put in words what it means to go 6-3 for me. We honored Trenton in the best way tonight.”

Manning said stepping up to Class 4A was a challenge for the team, but the seniors and underclassmen came together and played football.

“Our hard work in the offseason produced the resulted we wanted. Sure, we wanted to be in the playoffs, but going 6-3 is a great way to go out,” Manning said.

“Our senior kids have been through a lot with losing a teammate. It inspired them. I told the our kids to carry Trenton’s spirit with them always. He will be with us all season,” Ergenbright said. “These young men honored Trenton by playing and behaving as Trenton lived his life as a great teammate, working hard and being accountable.”

Ergenbright was already working on preparing for next season. He said the Cardinals have to find a way to play more competitively against the bigger schools such as Fort Dodge, Southeast Polk and West Des Monies Valley.

Newton finished 2-3 in Class 4A District 4 action.

Indianola 7-7-7-7—28

Newton 14-14-2-14—45

Newton — Sturtz 1 yd run (Combs kick)

Indianola — Smith 83 yd pass from Kolarik (Brandt kick)

Newton — Norvell 2 yd run (Combs kick)

Newton — Miller 1 yd run (Combs kick)

Indianola — Kolarik 2 yd run (Brandt kick)

Newton — Combs 22 yd field goal

Indianola — Ewoldsen 73 yd pass from Jensen (Brandt kick)

Newton — Rosenquist 1 yd run (Combs kick)

Indianola — Kolarik 41 yd pass from Jensen (Brandt kick)

Newton — Rosenquist 6 run (Combs kick)

Newton Indianola

22 First Downs 7

75-417 Rushes-Yds 19-108

72 Passing Yds 238

489 Total Offense 346

4-5-0 Passing 9-13-1

1-0 Fumbles-lost 1-1

3-20 Penalties-Yds 0-0

0-0 Punts-Avg. 1-16

Individual Leaders

Rushing: Newton-Rosenquist 30-170, Norvell 18-112, Sturtz 13-104, Miller 11-37, Roush 1-2. Indianola- Kolarik 9-96, Hildreth 3-11, Jensen 6-9.

Passing: Newton -Sturtz 4-5-72-0. Indianola-Jensen 8-12-155, Kolarik 1-1-83.

Receiving: Newton-Ergenbright 4-72. Indianola-Smith 1-83, Ewoldsen 1-73, Kade Kolarik 2-56, Scott 3-16, Hartung 1-7, Kolby Kolarik 1-3.

Punting: Newton-none. Indianola-Hartung 1-16 (16-yd avg.)

Newton Defense

Tackles (solos/assisted): Rosenquist 1/7, Rhone 2/2, Kite 0/5, Miller 0/5, Busch 0/5, Roush 2/0, S,Smith 1/2, Steinbach 1/1, Jaise Gulling 1/0, Graham 0/2, Miller 0/2, Combs 1/0, Ergenbright 0/1, Bleakney 0/1.

Quarterback sacks: Miller .5, Smith .5.

Fumbles (forced/recovered): Steinbach 1/0, Rosenquist 0/1.

Interceptions: Roush-1

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com